


Pussyfooting About

by chelseababylove



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Jealous Adrien Agreste, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Misunderstandings, Post Reveal, Pre-Relationship, ladrien, post-reveal/pre-relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-05-07 07:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19204972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseababylove/pseuds/chelseababylove
Summary: Marinette and Adrien officially know each other's identities. This is the story of what happens after.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is mostly just me trying to write more frequently. Also, there are not nearly enough post-reveal/pre-relationship stories out there.

The halls are filled with chattering students, eager to talk to their friends before class starts. Kim and Alix are in the corner, frantically copying Max’s homework and Rose is across the way, trying to catch Marinette’s attention. But Marinette only has eyes for the boy standing in front of her.

“So,” she says, shifting on her feet. The paper bag in her hands is a lifeline as she squeezes her grip on it. 

Adrien is leaning against the lockers looking as cool and calm as ever. Marinette can only tell he’s nervous because she knows Chat, knows his tells, and right now, his hand is anxiously grabbing the back of his neck. 

“So,” he echoes. 

“Here.” She pushes the bag into his chest, making him stumble while he regains his balance. The moment he has a solid hold on it she pulls back in on herself.

“What’s this?”

“For you.”

Adrien opens the bag and his eyes light up when he realizes it’s a croissant. 

“Thanks Marinette! Can I eat it?”

“What else do you do with croissants?”

“Thank you,” he repeats before breaking off a large piece. “What’s the occasion?”

“I know they’re your favorite so I thought I’d bring you one.”

He freezes with his mouth full of pastry, his cheeks puffed and bits of crumb on his lips. Then, to her absolute amazement, a blush creeps its way onto his face and he slowly swallows his food.

“Do you want some?” He holds out the small remains of his croissant and it’s so endearing Marinette wants to scream. 

“No thanks. I brought it for you.”

“But I didn’t get you anything.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to.” She managed to hold it together for so long but she can feel herself growing hot. It shouldn’t be a big deal but he’s making it one and now she’s second guessing every decision she’s ever made. 

“I’ll bring you something tomorrow.” He says it like a promise, his eyes far too intense for a conversation about croissants.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” he says, placing his hands on hers. She can’t tell if it’s his hands or hers that are so clammy.

“I like macarons,” she offers weakly. 

His smile grows warm. “I know.”

They stay holding hands for a few more seconds before Marinette realizes what is happening and takes a step back, yanking her hands from his like they’re on fire. 

“So, um,” she says, rubbing her arm. “Now that we know…”

“Yeah,” he asks, leaning in a bit. 

“I just, um. I was excited when Fu told us to tell each other because you’re my best friend and I wanted to be able to hang out with you. You know, for fun.”

“You want to hang out with me?”

Marinette can’t even find it in herself to be self-conscious at his question. Not when his grin threatens to take over his whole face and his eyes are sparkling with unencumbered joy. 

“Of course. Like I said, you’re--”

“Guess what someone recorded last night,” Alya says, putting her arms around both Marinette and Adrien. She’s usually better at leaving Marinette alone when she’s making progress with Adrien so Alya’s interruption can mean only one thing.

“Something Ladybug related I assume?”

“They were caught talking on the Eiffel Tower for hours,” she says.

Marinette glances at Adrien quickly before returning her attention to Alya. “No offense but that doesn’t sound very exciting. Not compared to other things you recorded.”

“Hours, Marinette. Hours. There’s no way you can say they’re not dating.”

“What,” Adrien squeaks, still trapped by Alya’s arm. 

Marinette chooses to ignore him, far too mortified to think of what to say to Adrien. “We spend hours talking all the time. Last time I checked, we aren’t dating.”

“That’s different,” Alya says.

“How?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“And how do you know they don’t have boyfriends or girlfriends?”

Alya pauses for a second before triumphantly declaring, “They can’t. We’ve seen them kiss twice now.”

“And both times Ladybug has said there were extenuating circumstances. Besides, that was ages ago, a lot could change.”

“Exactly! A lot like their feelings for each other! Adrien, back me up. I know you’re a ladynoir shipper.”

Marinette’s eyes bulge as her face threatens to match the temperature of the earth’s core. She glances around, praying for a way out of this conversation.

“Um. Th-they’re real people,” Adrien says. Marinette refuses to look over at him. “I doubt they want people speculating whether they’re dating or not.”

“Thank you,” Marinette says, chancing a superior smirk at Alya before looking away again. “Anyway, I need to check on something before class starts. I’ll see you guys later bye!”

Marinette slips out from Alya’s arm and books it in the opposite direction. There’s a good chance she’s going to be late now but it’s worth it if she doesn’t have to hear how Adrien is no longer interested in her. She already knows Chat Noir started flirting less and less with her over the years until it completely switched to friendly banter. She already knows Adrien was dating Kagami at some point. 

She already knows just a few weeks ago, Chat spent days gushing to her about some girl he was apparently in love with. Some girl that was not Ladybug. 

So, yeah, she takes the long way to class. Her heart can’t handle any more pain this early in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has some thoughts.

Adrien’s been in Marinette’s room plenty of times now. He’s well acquainted with her pink walls and rolls of fabric littering the floor. He even has his own spot in the room—the place he always sits when he goes up there—on the floor, back leaning against the chaise. 

All of this is to say he shouldn’t feel as nauseated as he does right now. Maybe nauseous isn’t exactly the right feeling. Light-headed. Anxious. Dizzy. Scared. Like at any moment he could puke or faint or do something equally mortifying in front of the love of his life.

Granted, he’s never been alone in her room late at night with no one else aware that he’s there. Her parents are blissfully sleeping while he’s sneaking into their daughter’s room. It’s enough to set off his heart, even though he knows nothing scandalous is going to happen. He just has an overactive imagination. 

“—rien! Adrien!” Marinette’s voice snaps Adrien out of his panic. He blinks up at her towering over him. From his position on the floor, she looks so much taller than she really is. She squats down next to him, bringing their faces too close. Not that he minds. “Are you sure you’re okay? That’s the third time you spaced out on me tonight.”

She’s close enough that her breath fans his face. Forget vomiting, he might actually have a heart attack in Marinette’s bedroom. 

“Sorry,” he says. He slides down, both to give him some space and to rest his head on the seat of the chaise. Looking at the ceiling also lets him think without having the distraction of Marinette’s face staring back at him. “My mind won’t stop. I’m fine.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Marinette settles in beside him, sitting properly now, and rests her head against his shoulder. Adrien squeezes his eyes shut. 

“Not really,” he admits.

“Okay. If you change your mind I’m always here for you.”

That forces a reluctant smile out of him. It may not be what he wants but he really appreciates Marinette’s friendship and loyalty. His feelings aside, Marinette is the best friend he could possibly ask for.

“I know, Bug. I’m here for you too.”

“Adrien,” she scolds. “How many times do I have to tell you not to use those nicknames when we’re not transformed?”

“There’s no one here but us and our kwamis.”

“It’s the principle of it. We don’t want to form bad habits.”

Adrien twists his head so he’s looking at her, a teasing smile on his face. “Whatever you say, Princess.” Then, because she’s so close and smells so good and he’s so weak, he presses a kiss against her forehead. 

She groans over the nickname but her cheeks are turning pink so Adrien takes it as a win. 

“Anyway,” she says, lifting her head off his shoulder and wiggling away to give them both some space. His shoulder feels much colder and, despite no longer supporting her weight, his body feels heavier without her. “I was going to ask if you had any time this week or weekend to hang out like normal people do.”

“Does this not constitute as hanging out like normal people?”

“You had to climb in through my balcony as your alter-ego, my parents don’t know there’s a boy in their daughter’s bedroom, and it’s nearly one in the morning on a school night.”

“We’re just being rebellious teens. Totally normal.”

“Well, I don’t like being a rebellious teen. My parents trust me and I have to break their trust constantly by being Ladybug, I don’t want to have to do it for anything else.”

“Okay,” Adrien says quietly, shrinking in on himself. “I’m sorry.”

There’s a long silence filled only with Adrien’s frantic heartbeat. 

“So?” Marinette prompts.

“So what?”

“Are you free this week?”

“I--I’m not,” Adrien says weakly. “I’m sorry, Marinette. We don’t have to hang out anymore, I won’t come by like this anymore, I swear.”

“No! I want to hang out with you.”

“But I don’t know when the next time that can be. My father keeps me on a tight schedule and doesn’t see the need to have friends.” She should already know this, as his friends often complained about only being able to hang out with him twice a month. Surely she knew he would see her more if he could. 

“Ok, so we’ll figure something out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out.”

“Adrien,” Marinette says, placing her hand on his arm and forcing him to look at her. “You’re my favorite person. I’m going to hang out with you as often as I can so we’ll figure out a way to do that without losing hours of sleep every night. Got it?”

Adrien can feel his face burning, knows he’s going to be hearing those words on repeat for _days_ , and has to look away again lest he does something stupid. _Adrien, you’re my favorite person._ He squeezes his eyes shut. 

It’s stuff like that that made Adrien think he had a chance with Marinette before the reveal. He fell for her so gradually that he was long lost to her before he even realized what was happening. It took even longer for him to come to terms with the fact that he most likely had no chance with Ladybug. And then it took longer still for him to work up the courage to make a move on Marinette. He was on stage 4 of his 9 part plan to woo his princess, and was convinced she would say yes when he asked her out, when the reveal happened. 

Now, he’s very confused about where his place is with her, made even more confusing by her remark the other day about Chat Noir and Ladybug possibly dating other people. He assumed he would know if Marinette were seeing someone but he’s been known to being oblivious and single-minded when it came to this girl. It’s entirely possible she mentioned someone and he just willfully ignored it. 

And it’d be far too embarrassing for him to ask about it now...

“Adrien?”

“Yes! I mean, yeah, okay.”

“If you don’t want to hang out, that’s fine.”

“Of course I want to hang out with you,” Adrien says, clambering over himself to sit upright. “If it were up to me we’d be together 24/7. I just… don’t know how realistic it is.”

“We can just say we have a group assignment that’s going to last the rest of the school year.”

“Isn’t that still lying to our parents?”

“Lying to your father is not the same thing as sneaking a boy into my room late at night and you know it.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever you say, M’Lady.”

“Nicknames.”

“How can I help myself when you’re being so clever?”

“Always the flatterer,” she replies, bopping him on the nose.

“Only for you.”

Her cheeks are a lovely pink and her blue eyes are sparkling with mirth. Adrien is quite confident he would be purring if he were transformed. As he’s not, he pulls Marinette into him, hoping to convey his gratitude in a clumsy hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not totally satisfied with this chapter but I've been so??? busy??? I just wanted to get something out there. Hopefully the next chapter will come out sooner!
> 
> Thanks for reading ^.^


	3. Chapter 3

“Number 7: What’s your favorite thing you own and why?”

Ladybug rolls her eyes at Chat’s persistence. “Are we really going to go through all of the questions on this list?”

“Yes,” Chat says emphatically. “It says it should create a stronger bond between us.”

Ladybug sighs and grabs another chocolate from their shared bag, looking out at the twinkling lights of the city below. Chat had called her earlier saying to meet him at the Eiffel Tower for an ‘important meeting.’ Said meeting had apparently been reading out and answering [“55 Important Questions to Ask Your Best Friend.”](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/20-questions-ask-best-friend-become-closer-relationships)

So important.

“Where did you even get this,” she asks, trying and failing to snatch his papers away from him as he holds them out of reach.

“Teen Vogue.”

“I wasn’t aware you read Teen Vogue,” she snickers, popping yet another chocolate into her mouth. At least he brought provisions. 

“I’m a model, M’Lady. I need to stay up to date with all the latest trends.”

“Of course. My bad.”

“Anyway, what’s your favorite thing you own and why?”

“You mean aside from my miraculous?” At his nod, she continues, “I guess my new fancy sewing machine. It works really well and I saved up for months to afford it so I’m proud of it. You?”

“Hmmm,” Chat says, stroking his chin like he’s done after every question. “Probably all my pictures and videos I have of my mom. For obvious reasons.”

“Oh,” Ladybug says in the silence that follows his response. “Now I feel bad about my answer. Can I change mine?”

“No, I liked your answer. I love how passionate you are about designing.”

“Thank you,” she says, feeling bashful despite herself. 

Chat clears his throat before moving on. “Number 8: Who was the last person who made you cry and why?”

“Ugh, probably Hawkmoth.”

“Same.”

“Fuck that guy.”

Chat giggles. “Yeah, fuck him.”

“I can’t believe we’re still fighting him. Fourteen year old Ladybug would be very disappointed that he’s still terrorizing our city.”

“Honestly, fourteen year old Chat Noir would probably love that he finds out who you are and he still gets to run around every day.”

“Typical.”

“Hey, becoming Chat Noir was the best thing that ever happened to me. Sure, my priorities needed some sorting out but I got there eventually.”

“That you did, Kitty. I’m proud of you.”

Chat puffs out his chest in pride. “Thank you. Now, where do you see yourself in five years?”

And so it goes. They keep answering the questions provided by some random online article Chat found and deemed important. She’ll never admit it to him, but Ladybug starts to get into it after a few more rounds of questions. His answers are endearing and sweet and she finds pleasure in learning more about him. Even if his means of doing so are silly at best. 

“Here’s a good one,” Chat says after an hour of this. The city has grown quieter as the tourists make their way to their hotels and the people of Paris settle in for the night. There’s a group of people standing near the base of the tower, pointing their cameras up and Ladybug knows she’s going to get another embarrassing earful from Alya tomorrow. Still, it’s worth it. “Number 37. Who was your very first crush?”

Ladybug immediately feels her face heat up and she turns away from him. 

“If you don’t already know, then pass.”

“Hey! You can’t pass!”

“It’s embarrassing,” she whines, pulling up get knees so she can hide her face in them.

“Now I’m really intrigued.” He scoots even closer to her, their shoulders brushing.

She tries to get away with muttering the boy’s name but Chat insists that she say it loud and proud.

“You are literally the worst person I’ve ever met.”

“If that’s the case then my opinion on your first crush shouldn’t matter.”

“Fine,” she says, peeking her head out. “But please know that it only lasted, like, a week and is one of my biggest regrets in life, okay?”

Chat’s eyes burn with curiosity as he nods.

“It was Kim.”

There’s a long moment where they can only hear the howling wind and the cars zipping by below.

Then, “ _Le Chien Kim?_ ” 

“It was a momentary lapse of judgment!”

Chat Noir bursts out laughing. “A week is far too long a lapse in judgment.”

“Shut up. Who was your first crush?” It’s only after she demands his answer that she realizes it probably won’t make her feel any better. There’s a good chance his first crush was some gorgeous supermodel…

“I don’t want to say it now,” he says, turning red.

“Ohhhh no. If I had to, you do too.”

“It was you.”

Ladybug blinks once. Twice.

“Me?”

Chat shrugs. “You already knew I liked you.”

“Yeah but I guess I didn’t realize I was the first girl.”

“I didn’t have a lot of options. The only girl I saw on a regular basis before meeting you was Chloé and we both know I wasn’t going there.”

“Ah, I see,” she says, trying to ignore the sinking in her stomach. “You just liked me because I was there.”

“No!” He shouts, startling Ladybug at how loud he is. He winces and lowers his voice. “I—I really thought you were awesome.”

“Past tense.”

“Still very much present tense.”

“So you still have a crush on me,” Ladybug asks in a teasing tone but her heart is pounding in her chest and she can feel her hands starting to shake. She feels like they’re on a precipice, seconds away from diving off. She hasn’t felt this hopeful in a long time.

Chat is frozen for a second before he looks away bashfully. “I don’t know which answer won’t make you angry.”

The hope fizzles out, leaving Ladybug feeling hot and cold all over. “I’m just teasing you, Kitty. What’s the next question?”

They wait two tense heartbeats before Chat brandishes his papers and reads out, “38. What foreign language or languages would you want to master and why?”

Ladybug allows her heart to calm down before scooting back into Chat as she thinks about her answer, grateful for the distraction and these silly questions.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is open for prompts! I only have a few scenes planned so if there's anything you'd like to see you can either leave a comment or message me on tumblr at chelseaapproved.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
